22 October 2022

Oil and Filter Changes-

EXTREMELY poor prior planning on my part-
I delayed preventative maintenance on all my vehicles until my oil change schedule was slightly overdue on all.
For various reasons I have always taken the SHO to the Ford dealer to have this job done. For $60 they change oil and filter, top off all fluids, check tires, brakes and various other systems on the car. First time I had considered doing the oil change on this car myself I took one look beneath the car and saw- what IS THAT... A heat shield?.., covering the complete underside of the engine compartment. That, coupled with the fact this car sits VERY low to the ground, made the $60 charge from my dealer seem quite reasonable.

"When can you do 'The Works' on my SHO?"
"I can get you in on November 14th."
Needing it done yesterday, that's obviously unacceptable.

The oil change on the Ram/Cummins Diesel is not complicated but the doggone thing takes a LOT of oil-
Ten quarts of specific diesel oil. People "in the know" also recommend adding two containers of STP. So the job is kinda expensive.

I've had the filter for an oil and filter change on the Piaggio MP3 Scooter on hand for some time. It takes only a couple quarts of oil so that job is easy-peasy with the correct tools on hand.

So I attacked the big Cummins first. On it I change the oil every 5,000 miles and the filter every 10K. This time was the intermediate service, so all I had to do was pull the plug and drain the old oil out, then add the new oil and the two containers of STP.
All this was done in half an hour or so.

Now let's attack the Ford-
How the heck do I lift this thing up high enough to work under it?
I searched for several minutes and finally found what I felt were the safest points to apply my floor jack.
But doing that job will require removing that infernal heat shield. It's held on by four attaching points that are actually easier to detach than I thought, but required a long reach under this very low car to get to 'em. Done... and the shield is pulled out from under.
I then lifted the car high enough to get underneath and applied my jack stands for safety's sake.
The rest of the job ain't hard. Oil drain plug and filter are right there pretty much in your face. I removed the drain plug and the old oil flowed into my catch container. I removed the filter and allowed the oil inside it to drain into the same container, then filled the new filter and slickened the rubber gasket with oil and put it in its place.

The SHO owner's manual recommends Full Synthetic oil. This stuff is not cheap. I open the five quart container and poured it into the hole marked "Engine Oil", and I'm feeling pretty proud of myself-
I've changed the oil in the Diesel truck AND the Taurus in less than two hours!
Wait-
What's that?
I notice LOTS of new oil creeping across the floor behind the right front tire.
Damn.
I failed to re-install the drain plug. WHAT A MESS! What an idiot!

Another trip to Wally World.
Another BIG container of 10W-40 Fully Synthetic oil.
Oil installed and heat shield reattached.

Dismayed with my boneheadedness I put off doing the Scooter oil and filter change until tomorrow.
While doing the job I promise I'll check and DOUBLE CHECK my work.



5 comments:

Old NFO said...

Not laughing at you, but with you... There are those who have, and those who WILL do that... Guess which category I fall into... sigh

Greybeard said...

The world is crazy my Navy friend.
The Ford dealer pays $14/hr to their oil change technicians. Apparently folks can make more than that sitting at home with a remote control in their hand.
They cannot find anyone to do the job.

Zemtir said...

@ Greybeard

RE "the world is crazy"

Right, everyone "knows" the world is crazy (which always "conveniently" means the world/OTHER people, usually the governing authorities, are crazy but not they themselves, of course). Yet no one typically offers an good explanation on why the world is crazy.

Have you ever wondered WHY the world is crazy, my friend? How do you explain it intelligently? Do you have a coherent explanation for the craziness of the world that makes sense (religious fantasies are obviously excluded because they only "make sense" and are "valid" to fantasy lovers but never to reality-based truth-seekers)?

The WHOLE big picture (not just a part of the big picture) that makes up the human condition, that explains the craziness of the world (if you ever genuinely wondered WHY it is that the world is crazy), that describes human conduct over millennia is the hegemony of the 2 married pink elephants in the room and has never been on clearer display than with the deliberate global Covid Scam atrocity — see “The 2 Married Pink Elephants In The Historical Room –The Holocaustal Covid-19 Coronavirus Madness: A Sociological Perspective & Historical Assessment Of The Covid “Phenomenon”” ... https://www.rolf-hefti.com/covid-19-coronavirus.html

(CAVEAT --- only read the 2 pink elephant article if you're GENUINELY interested in the truth and therefore "CAN handle the "inconvenient" truth" ...)

"2 weeks to flatten the curve has turned into...3 shots to feed your family!" --- Unknown

““We’re all in this together” is a tribal maxim. Even there, it’s a con, because the tribal leaders use it to enforce loyalty and submission. ... The unity of compliance.” --- Jon Rappoport, Investigative Journalist

If you are in the United States and your employer has mandated the toxic/lethal COVID jabs, you can register to receive a "Medical Exemption Certificate" for free at https://drgastonmedicalexemption.com

Greybeard said...

Zemtir-
My oversimplification of our world's problems today?
Our government has destroyed the family unit. Kids are told no matter what, "it's someone else's fault!"
That's my position and I'm sticking with it.

Ed Bonderenka said...

My friend asked me to use my garage for his oil change.
He has back injuries so I crawled under.
Saw the heat shield, so I took a utility knife and cut a drain hole.
The oil missed the hole and ran all over the top of the shield and every where else.